TUPELO – The City Council has declined to negotiate with an equipment company unhappy about losing a multimillion-dollar bid to do work related to the Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. expansion.

Reagan Equipment of Louisiana was one of eight companies to bid on a project involved in the expansion. Although Reagan submitted the lowest bid, another company, Cummins Mid-South, won the contract.

The city is required by law to accept the lowest and best bid from a company when entering the bidding process, but factors other than cost can be weighed.

Attorneys and representatives for Reagan asked the City Council last week to block the process – or at least delay it – until all parties could discuss the situation and reach an agreement.

The council declined to do so. Neither of the Reagan attorneys at Tuesday’s council meeting returned phone calls to the Daily Journal with their reaction.

Tupelo’s role in the situation stems from its being a “pass-through” entity for the Cooper Tire expansion project. That means Tupelo receives grants and loans for the project, then hands them over to Cooper Tire.

Cooper Tire is adding 32,000 square feet to its existing facility in south Tupelo. It broke ground late last year on the project.

Part of the expansion involves buying six new generators to power the plant in case of an electrical outage.

Reagan and Cummins Mid-South, along with six other companies, vied to provide those generators. Cummins’ lowest bid was $3.68 million; Reagan’s was $3.19 million.

In a letter to the city dated Dec. 20, Cooper Tire’s project engineer recommended Cummins based on several factors. Scott Bureleson of Memphis-based Allen & Hoshell wrote that “the price differential is offset by advantages found in Cummins Mid-South-LLC’s generator and paralleling switchgear proposal ... .”

Reagan representatives told the City Council last week that no one told them why their bid was rejected and requests to get such information were repeatedly rejected.

They asked the council for an opportunity to negotiate with Allen & Hoshell, Cooper Tire and the city.

But city attorney Guy Mitchell said that’s not done in a public bid process.

“With a private bid, which is what Reagan is used to, you can negotiate,” Mitchell said. “But with public bids, it’s all out in the open and they can’t come back and start negotiating with you.”

Mitchell also said Reagan omitted pertinent information from its base bid that Cummins had included, making it look like the lowest bid when it fact extra costs would get tacked on later.

Company representatives were informed of these factors after the council met privately Tuesday, Mitchell said. They also received copies of documents explaining Allen & Hoshell’s decision.

Money for the generators comes from a $2 million grant from the Mississippi Development Authority and a $2 million loan from the Tennessee Valley Authority through the city of Tupelo.

Contact Emily Le Coz at (662) 678-1588 or emily.lecoz@djournal.com.